Breathe into Power Online Class 10/5/20

I just want to say a big thanks to Kwan Lee, Adam and Brendon Zettler for the great Breathe into Power online class yesterday. It was certainly challenging but I felt so energized afterwards. They reviewed some of the work that Vladimir Vasiliev has been studying in his own online classes recently.

The main principle in this class that was covered was how to convert tension into relaxation, therefore giving you power. Power was explained by the three of them as a state of relaxation, readiness, sensitivity and openness. However, this is something that is difficult to explain. It’s a feeling that must be felt and cultivated.

We mainly practised this principle using the 3 core exercises of Systema: push ups, squats and leg raises. We either did them statically, slowly or quickly. However, the main focus while doing them was the same. With the inhale you needed to find tension and open the tension in the muscle up, therefore giving you relaxation and power. It was also important to keep full sensitivity and presence in the body while doing the movements at all times, especially in the hands. I particularly felt that if there was any tension at all in the body it took power away from your body and hands. Once you released that tension it went directly to the hands.

When you are fatigued, especially in a particular part of the body, it tends to draw your attention and feeling to that place, diminishing your sensitivity and power in the body. With the exercises that Kwan and the Zettler twins covered, it was important not to shrink in feeling but remain open and free or return to that state as quickly as possible. 

With Vladimir’s classes and also this class I also noticed that when you have self pity you lose this freedom and power. That’s why it’s so important to get to the point where you experience self pity and learn to overcome it. So important at this time. Thanks again to Vladimir, Kwan, Adam and Brendon for sharing this important principle with us. 

Having 3 senior Instructors giving their take on Vladimir’s work and giving feedback in the space of about one and half hours is beyond value. The way that they naturally weaved their teaching approaches together to create such a great class was also amazing to see. 

Kwan said this was a first of its kind class because 3 Systema Senior Instructors were teaching online side-by-side. It was a great success and I certainly look forward to participating in another one in the future. I highly recommend other people do so, if they have the chance.